i've missed you, and i like running.

hey y'all - i'm sorry it's been so long since we've spoken, and i've missed you dearly. i really am going to try to be better. i'm sure some of you know of the huge changes that happened in my life over the last year, but in case you're not one of those, here's a quick recap.

in late spring of last year, i found out i had been accepted into the master's program at the university of florida to study spanish linguistics - i shook, i cried, i called my mother. a couple months later, i began my pilgrimage back to the place of my birth, the great southeastern united states. as scary as it was to leave my beloved Texas, every mile east we drove, the louder my heart sang. to be completely honest, though, the heart-singing was kind of short-lived. i don't doubt that lots of you have heard the saying about the sunshine state, "the farther north you go, the farther south you get." for the most part, i would say that that statement is accurate. however, much like austin is the (let's face it, weird) bastion of liberal-dom in the middle of Texas, gainesville does not fit with that north-south stereotype of the remainder of the state. (rest assured, all we have to do is drive 20 minutes in any direction to get to a place that feels - and sounds - a lot more like home.) suffice it to say that the adjustment to gainesville was a little rough to begin with. i still haven't totally hit my stride, but i'm getting there. and in case any of you are wondering what i'll do after i'm finished (ha!) with school, the answer is still that i have no idea. i'll let you know as soon as i figure it out.

some of you may also know that i like to run, and that in the grand scheme of my life, this is a rather recent development. to put it simply, i run because it feels good. okay. that's probably not entirely true. i run because it makes me feel good when i'm done. often times in the middle of a run i want to lay down on the road/sidewalk/grass/beach (oh yeah - did i mention all the beaches in florida??) and die. i haven't done that yet, though, and i've always been pleased that i didn't when i finally finish my run. i'm definitely not fast (i'm fairly certain that my best mile pace has been about 10:30, and i only ever got one that fast), and i don't run that far - my longest distance was about 6 miles, and that was mostly by accident. (i'm sure my mother would be happy to tell you that story, as she called me mid-run and had to talk to me the rest of the way home.)

since i've been in florida, i've run in five races (see bibs in photo below), and i have two more coming up next month - in fact, my longest race was last weekend - five long, hot miles on the beach. races that support military causes are near and dear to my heart. my sweet brother has been in the Air Force for a whole bunch of years (14, if i'm not mistaken), and i'm sure i speak for my whole family when i say we feel so fortunate that we've not had to be beneficiaries of the various organizations that are out there to help veterans who find themselves in a bad situation as a result of the sacrifices they made for our country, but we're certainly glad that those organizations exist.

the ROTC at the university of florida put on their second (third?) annual race earlier this year benefitting fisher house which, to put it as simply as i can, is like the ronald mcdonald house, but for veterans (and their families). a more detailed, eloquent explanation can be found at www.fisherhouse.org. not too long after that, i went to tampa and ran in the GI jog at macdill AFB (where said brother used to work), which helped to send wounded warriors and gold star families to the Army ball. the first race i ever ran was the 9/11 heroes run at ellington field in houston - it was super cool getting to run on the tarmac right by all the planes. cooler still is that i get to run that race again in jacksonville next month. it's put on by the travis manion foundation, whose mission is "to assist our nation's veterans and the families of fallen heroes."

also next month, and actually a couple days before the race i just mentioned, on september 6, i'll be participating in the wounded warrior project 8k, also in jacksonville. as the name gives away, this race supports the wounded warrior project. this organization does so much for the guys and girls who come home not in the same shape they went "over there" in, be their injuries physical or something that's a little harder to see. their mission is, simply and beautifully, "to honor and empower Wounded Warriors." i'm honored to be able to support this cause.

and now that you've all read through my whole infomercial, this is, in fact, the time where i ask you for things. the wounded warrior project 8k requires its participants to raise $99, every single penny of which goes directly to the WWP (this is separate from my race entrance fee). i won't make a list of a few small things you could give up to donate to this cause, because i know you, sweet reader, are smart enough to do that quick budget math in your own head without my doing it for you. i also know that many, if not all of you, already have myriad causes that you support. i would just ask that if you can spare a few dollars, you send them this way. i'll definitely appreciate it, and so will all the wounded warriors and their families who benefit from your donation. if you're strapped for cash (believe me, i understand - TAs don't live the lavish lifestyle my thriftiness may lead you to believe we do!), i would ask that you share either this post or just the link with your friends. my personal fundraising page can be found here.

thank you in advance for all your support, be it financial, emotional, or moral. and as always, thank y'all for reading my rambling.

i'm gonna go check the black beans i've got going on the stove. (learning to make them from dried beans, not that happy goya can that dances around at the astros games! i'll let y'all know how they turn out - before the end of the weekend, i promise!)

♡whit

"what exactly is...'spicy chicken?'"

i heard from a very reliable source this past week that at least one person has been going through withdrawal from these little stories from my kitchen, so i made a point of bringing something delicious to the, erm, "table." (that was bad. i know.)

i've decided it's gotten too hot to have the crock pot on all day long, so instead, i spend a fair amount of time in the evening hovering over my stove and oven - a brilliant solution, don't y'all think? this week, however, had some particularly yummy results. my mother and i planned to have dinner together on wednesday night, so wednesday afternoon, i emailed her asking if she had any "special requests." i had been thinking along the lines of a particular side or dessert, but her response was "...spicy chicken." this is not the name of some chicken i've made before. i was a bit befuddled. i asked her what, exactly, is "spicy chicken?" her answer - and this is why i love my mother - was brilliantly simple: "chicken that's spicy. i've got a hankerin' [sic] for something spicy." she doesn't know this, but that was almost the exact opposite of what i'd planned for dinner that night. well, except for the chicken part. but i had definitely not been going in the spicy direction until her gentle nudge. the best spicy chicken i could think of that i had a recipe for was those crock pot chicken fajitas that we all love, but by this point, it was 4 in the afternoon. not nearly enough time for a crock pot. it was then that i remembered one of my favorite dishes from one of my favorite restaurants and used all i remember about it as inspiration for wednesday night's dinner - which was, by the way, a huge hit in both the departments of delicious and spicy.

i googled a recipe for lime pepper marinade for fajitas and, interestingly enough, none of the top 5 results included pepper. go figure. the marinade recipe i doctored is below. y'all know that i always try to give credit where credit is due, but this recipe came up on so many different sites that i wouldn't know who to thank.

ingredients:
lime-pepper marinade (recipe below)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 fresh jalapenos, sliced
2 fresh serranos, sliced
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 large onion, sliced into rings
1 cup shredded monterrey jack cheese
salt

lime-pepper marinade:

4 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed, and minced
1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons tequila
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from real limes)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

directions:
combine all ingredients for marinade. cover chicken with marinade, let marinate for 2 hours in the fridge.

preheat oven to 350.

coat a large skillet with olive oil cooking spray and heat over medium high heat. cook marinated chicken breasts until browned on both sides, 3-5 minutes per side, depending on size. remove chicken to an oven-proof dish. sautee jalapenos and serranos for about a minute in the same skillet chicken was cooked in. top the chicken with the peppers and bake for 20-30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. meanwhile, in the same skillet, caramelize onions. sprinkle with salt and cook until they're as done (or not) as you like them. [if you're cooking for my mother, this will be quite a while.] once the chicken is cooked, turn on the broiler and top the chicken with the cilantro and cheese. broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly. (i only broiled for 2 minutes. ish.)

serve the chicken over the caramelized onions. suggested sides - black beans, cilantro lime rice

here is my finished product (well, not quite finished because i don't have it plated with the onions in this photo, but right out of the oven!):

we loved this dish. some of us could have used a little less cilantro (momma), but overall, it was a hit and took care of that "hankerin'." it's pretty spicy, so feel free to cut back on those peppers if you'd like. also, don't forget to wash your hands after handling them. if you dare to go all the way with the peppers, however, and they get the best of you, the best solutions are milk or bread - they'll do a lot more to absorb the heat than water, which will just help to spread it around.

try it out - let me know what y'all think!

♥ whit

back from the bayou!

...go for the music, stay for the food!

i cannot believe we're halfway though the year! goodness. seems like just yesterday i was chopping off my hair, and now it hits my shoulders and i can't wait to get it cut.

so! we're back from the magical land known as loosyana and we had an absolutely fantastic time. my wonderful mother and i have gone to bayou country superfest every year since its inception - this was year three - and every year, we perfect the trip a little bit more. - by "perfect," i mean we find another delicious place to indulge because it is vacation, after all. this is our general itinerary: leave houston in the early afternoon and head east! this year, we ran into the joads before we were even out of houston. (yes, mother, that's the joads, with a d, not the jobs like in the Bible.)  these nice folks, bless their hearts, had a u-haul, with a trailer attached to the back, with a canoe strapped to the trailer holding, i can only imagine, what wouldn't fit in the u-haul. the first real stop we make is in jennings, la, at the boudin king.  even though we've been going for three years now, we still haven't quite figured out how to say "boudin" correctly, but we have come up with some creative ways to avoid pronouncing the word at all, and despite the fact that we can't say it, we are pretty comfortable declaring that this is quite possibly the best boudin in the state of louisiana. it at the boudin king, after all.

once we've gotten our fill, it's on to the other side of the mississippi. once we get to baton rouge, there's usually a trip to walmart because we've forgotten something. this year, it was my pajamas. whoops. i did, however, become the proud owner of an LSU t-shirt. then it's back to the hotel. last year, there were some mysterious buses with tennessee plates parked in our hotel parking lot - turned out they were billy currington's band's buses. billy himself was in mississippi, but we met a nice young man named doug who played guitar for billy and was kind enough to entertain our star-strucked-ness for a few minutes. logically, this year, we were hoping for the same sort of dumb luck...didn't happen. so we stayed upstairs and did our second favorite thing to do at the hotel - you know, when we can't hang out with almost-stars - lie in bed in my LSU pajama shirt, eating reese's, watching "swamp people." i was a happy gal. (there was some sort of marathon going on, so we saw lots of gators and lots of "chootin'") i drifted off to sweet dreams of gators and toothless cajuns (and believe me, i say that with all the love in my heart). when we woke up saturday afternoon (that's right, afternoon), we got ready and headed off to christina's for breakfast. my mother had read a piece on christina's in southern living last year and we wanted to go then, but we waited until sunday to try it out, and christina's is closed on sunday. next time you're in baton rouge, eat at this place. oh my goodness. these may have been the best biscuits i have ever had in my life ever. and they were gigantic. and buttery.
they came that way, so there was no worrying about making sure you get the butter on while they were still warm so it would melt. carbohydrate perfection. then when we were leaving, or paying to leave, momma asked the lady at the register if she was, in fact, christina - and she was! it was almost as exciting as the time we were leaving the kenny rogers show and saw kenny getting on his bus and momna said, "great show, kenny!" and mr. rogers looked right at her and said, "thank you." okay, it was not almost as exciting as that, because when that happened, she called everyone she knew and told them about it. this was only enough excitement to make her forget to tip our waiter. never fear, i reminded her and we took care of it. we had a few hours to kill before bayou country day one, so we went downtown to the old capitol - there is some really interesting louisiana history to be learned there, among it a certain diary of a confederate woman (sarah morgan) that really begs some more looking into - she talked a lot about those horrible yankees who came to burn her city...i do plan to read it at some point in the not so distant future. so! after our history lesson, it was time to go to death valley. and it's true what they say, there really isn't anything quite like a saturday night in death valley. saturday was definitely my favorite day of the festival - jerrod niemann, little big town, eric church, carrie underwood, and keith urban!
(also, this was the day we had jambalaya at the festival that i swear is made with alligator sausage but momma eats it anyway and somehow convinces herself it's not alligator). i loved sunday, don't get me wrong, but since for me, the main events were eric church and keith urban, it was a tiny bit anticlimactic. jerrod niemann, LBT, and carrie were all great - but eric church and keith urban were absolutely amazing! this is the third time i've seen keith urban live (twice at bayou country), and he always puts on an incredible show - actually gets up in the crowd and everything! you can't help but love him! and after seeing eric church at an up-close and personal event at our radio station, he stole my heart. he's such a rocker, but still so country, sings about blue jeans, jack daniels, and bruce springsteen - what more could you ask for? love, love, love me some eric church! and keith performed late into the night - seriously, after midnight. that's late for us. so we slept in late on sunday (yes, later than the "afternoon" when we woke up on saturday) and went to another of our favorite spots to eat, boutin's, where you do not, in fact, eat boudin. if you are a seafood person, you get the...i've forgotten what kind of fish, with a crabmeat stuffing, topped with a crawfish etouffee. a-mazing.
or, if you're more of the same persuasion as my momma, you get this chicken that's wrapped around a sausage in a rotel cream sauce. it is all so bad for you, but i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it's worth every. single. bite. oh yeah, and there's often life music and dancing. i really wanted some bread pudding when we were done, but i seriously could not manage to fit it in, so we waddled off to the mall. did a little bit of shopping, then back to LSU - it's really a beautiful campus. lots of giant trees, old buildings...i see why people love it. the show on sunday was joe nichols, sara evans, dierks bentley, jason aldean, and rascal flatts. we missed joe nichols by a little bit, but everybody else put on a good show. dierks and jason were my sunday favorites. much for the same reason that i love eric church. they don't seem - to me - to be quite as hardcore as eric, but they're on the same side of that country-rocker spectrum. i had an alligator sausage (not in jambalaya, by itself) for dinner on sunday. with creole mustard. if you know me, you probably already know i have an insane

aversion to mustard. even in those lay's chips that are the carolina barbecue flavor. just can't eat 'em. but this creole mustard...they're onto something there. after rascal flatts, we went back to the hotel, straight to sleep, and these two tired girls made their way back to the great state of texas on monday (and one of us went straight to work!) it was a fantastic weekend - i'm not wishing my life away or anything, and i intend to enjoy every minute between now and then, but i can't wait for next year!

♥ whit

crockpot chronicles: day 6

goodness, is it as hot where y'all are as it is where i am? i swear, we go straight from spring (for a day or so) to blazing (which seems to last forever) to a short-lived fall, maybe a cold snap, and back to the beginning. i'm living off of icy diet cokes from mc donald's, sweet iced tea, and iced coffee (made without the help of a french press). going to work is something of a relief because they run the air conditioner there - daddy always told me that when i'm paying for it, i can set the thermostat wherever i want. turns out that when i'm paying for it, i can tolerate it a bit warmer than i could in my father's house. but with the warm weather comes that much-needed and much-welcome break from the higher education. another semester down, one step closer to that wrap-around porch with the breeze that never stops.

but i digress. i left everyone hanging in the middle of getting to know and love my crockpot, but no more! i'm back, with some time on my hands, and let me tell you, dinner tonight was delicious. granted, that wasn't such a surprise - a while back i made this dish...just didn't get around to telling y'all about it. that being said, here's my crockpot take on chicken fajitas.

before it becomes an issue, i realize that this is not "fajitas" in the traditional sense if for no other reason than that the chicken is shredded. don't let that dissuade you. i promise, you won't be disappointed.

the original recipe is:

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas – from www.stacymakescents.com

1 yellow onion, sliced

3 sweet peppers, sliced

1 ½ pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs

½ cup chicken broth

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cumin

1 ½ tablespoons chili powder

Squirt of lime juice

Tortillas

Fajita fixings

Combine sliced onion and peppers in the bottom of a greased crockpot. Lay chicken on top of veggies. Pour chicken broth over top. Sprinkle everything with cumin, salt, and chili powder. Give a nice quirt of lime juice over the top. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. When meat is done, shred with two forks and stir back into juices. Serve meat mixture with slotted spoon on tortillas with your choice of fixings.

now. the first time i made this, i followed the recipe pretty closely. today, i kind of winged it because i thought i remembered it. like i said, today's dinner was delicious, but i think i prefer the first version to the more recent. my notes are these: grease the crockpot with olive oil. with the exception of the "spicy" peppers (jalapeño, serrano, habanero - that part comes later), i put all the veggies in under the chicken, so the layering would be oil, veggies, chicken, spices, liquids, "spicy" peppers. i don't remember if i used a white onion or a yellow onion, but that probably really doesn't matter. i used green bell peppers - probably one or two, but i really can't imagine myself using three. i'm just not that wild about bell peppers. not that i don't like them, i just really don't see what the fuss is all about. today, i used two bags of a frozen 3 pepper (red, yellow, and green bells) and onion (white) mixture. great when you're in a hurry, but i would still rather the first way. i'm pretty sure i put in a poblano the first time, too, which i am pretty wild about. i used frozen chicken breasts - i'm still amazed by the fact that you can throw something frozen into a pot and have dinner when you come home. chicken broth, yes - i forgot that today. i've never really measured spices and seasonings in cooking (baking, of course, is another story), so i'll say i put a little bit of salt, a whole lot of cumin, a good bit of black pepper, and some garlic powder, and some chili powder (which i couldn't find this morning). also, instead of a squirt of lime juice, i used a generous amount. let me say this. i will always prefer fresh fill-in-the-blank to what comes in the bottle, but shoot if it doesn't save you a lot of time. and that is the point of the crockpot chronicles, is it not? i did some sliced mushrooms the first time, too, and both times (because this part, for me, is key) i sliced up a fresh jalapeño, a serrano, and a habanero. word to the wise - use a cutting board for this part, don't just slice it over the crockpot, and remember to wash your hands when you're done. speaking from painful experience here. also, if you're not a fan of the spicy but you still want the jalapeño flavor, rib and seed it before it goes in. same with the serrano, but definitely leave out the habanero. takes more time, i know, but i had a house full of runny-nosed people tonight. when it's done, just shred up the chicken. fan. tastic. the first go-round, i just put this chicken/veggie mix on tortillas and it was a big hit - with me and with my parents. today i went a little farther - sour cream, guacamole (that i bought at the store - granted, it was HEB so it was freshly made), pico de gallo (again, thanks, HEB), shredded cheese, and some black refried beans (just a can of goya that i doctored up a bit - if you're curious, let me know).

y'all should definitely try this one out. it has been by far my favorite, and quite healthy as well.

and now to the judges - hey, the olympics are coming up!

• ease of prep - 5 - throw and go. love it.
• multiple parts/same pot - 4 - the store-bought sides are super easy, but those black beans sure were good.
• cooks for 6-8 hours - 5 - set it and forget it.
• crockpot to table ease - 5 - i set everything up assembly-line style tonight and everybody did their own thing before we all sat down.
• freezer leftovers - 5 - i'm glad i made this with something like...three pounds of chicken. - i guess i forgot to add that as one of the changes - but it's great in the freezer. put it in, juice and all, and i'm telling you, the flavor only gets better.

24/25 - told y'all this was my favorite. try it out. let me know how it went for you, whether you prefer the fresh or frozen onions and peppers...all that good stuff. y'all have a great memorial day weekend! my mom and i are off on our traditional girls' trip for this weekend. we plan to eat quite well. i'll tell you all about it when we get back! be safe!

♥ whit

crockpot chronicles: day 5

okay, i know this isn't quite another day...but i owe y'all!

Crockpot Chicken and Rice – from forkinit.blogspot.com

Ingredients

2-4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (let sit out to soften)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pkg. italian dressing seasoning (the dried kind in the packet)

rice

stir the cream cheese, cream of chicken, and seasoning together in the crockpot. i actually start it on low and let them sit in there for about 30 min so the cream cheese is softer to stir. (but don't forget about them like i did today!) put the frozen (because i'm lazy) chicken in and cover with the mix. cook on high 4-6 hours or until the chicken is cooked and fall-apart-tender. after the first two hours when the chicken is softer i cut it up into strips for easier eating. how easy is that!?

cook the rice in a pot (or rice cooker if you're not dumb like me and know how to use the stupid thing) and smother with chicken mixture! the italian seasoning is the secret ingredient! so yum!

the previous instructions/comments are from the blog (it's an awesome, check it out!) where i found the recipe - not my original thoughts. my original thoughts are these: this was quite yummy. i love things that are cheesy, and this totally fit the bill. it was also quite simple. i took the cream cheese straight out of the fridge and put it into the crockpot, let it sit there for the recommended 30 minutes, then i added the soup and attempted to stir them together. that's not entirely true. i attempted to whisk them together, which was a mistake. don't use a whisk. use a spoon. or something. but not a whisk. everything else was good - i shredded the chicken instead of cutting it into strips; i've become a shredded-chicken super-fan. my only complaint about this recipe is that it stuck to my crockpot like nobody's business.

this is that whole...tough cleanup i was talking about.

 i scraped as much of it as i could off, because in my family, we love the crunchy corners of the casserole, but let me tell you, it was a pain in the behind getting it out. lots of elbow grease, and the whole time i was paranoid about scratching my crockpot. (i ended up using comet, which totally did the trick, but i'm not sure i was supposed to use it on the crockpot. doesn't seem to have done any damage, and i've used the crockpot since then.) anyway, on the blog i linked to, there are lots of great comments, and even some ideas about how to help with that particular problem - like adding up to a cup of milk or water. some folks also mentioned adding veggies, which i had thought about myself - i think broccoli or mushrooms would bze fantastic! - probably not for the whole six hours, though, i guess closer to the end would be a better idea. for the rice, i did some brown rice that i had in the pantry - perfect!


judges?

  

• ease of prep - 4 - the whole...whisking thing. 
• multiple parts/same pot - 4 - the rice...but some folks suggested doing that in the crockpot, too, so maybe i'll give that a shot next time.
• cooks for 6-8 hours - 5 - enough said!
• crockpot to table ease - 5 - rice in, chicken on top - you're done!
• freezer leftovers - 4 - this is kind of a guess, because it never made it into the freezer (yummy yummy!), but i'm thinking about how you'd have to make a fresh batch of rice or pasta or whatever you want to use.

that brings us to a total of 22/25 - i loved this one. except for the cleanup. i'm definitely going to try it again with some of those suggestions i mentioned earlier. let me know what y'all think!
♥whit

crockpot chronicles: day 4

good afternoon, everyone! i know we've had a bit of silence, but between midterms and rodeo, there just hasn't been a whole lot of extra time - that's not to say i haven't been getting my money's worth out of that crockpot, though! i hope y'all are ready for a series of rapid-fire recipes, because now that it's spring break, i'm eager to let y'all know what i've been up to the last week or so. here goes!


Easy Slow Cooker Turkey – from slowandsimple.com

INGREDIENTS

2 to 3 pounds boneless turkey breast tenders or cutlets, or use chicken breast halves

4 medium potatoes, sliced

4 medium carrots, sliced

1 can (10 1/2 ounces) French onion soup, undiluted

DIRECTIONS

Put vegetables in bottom of crockpot. Add turkey breast. Pour in onion soup. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serves 6.

this one was super easy. except for the fact that i was trying to peel the carrots and potatoes without a vegetable peeler. kind of like trying to shave your legs with a paring knife except that instead of your legs, it's carrots and potatoes, but it's just about as easy and just about as effective. (my daddy bought me a vegetable peeler this weekend, so we won't have to worry about that anymore!) the only other trouble i had was trying to find the french onion soup in the grocery store, but that's only because i didn't see it right in front of me. it was there the whole time. also, i used chicken breasts, not turkey. 3 pounds. like i said, it was super easy, but when i got it out, there was just not a whole lot of flavor. as in, like, none. i was afraid to salt it because i thought with the french onion soup being undiluted it might be way too salty, and i figured the soup would have had enough flavor on its own to flavor the chicken. i was wrong. ask my mother. since i made so much of this chicken, i have about a pound of it sitting in the freezer right now. trust me, it will be doctored before i eat it again. i'll let you know how that goes.



judges?

• ease of prep - 5 - i cannot, in good conscience, dock points here because i didn't own a vegetable peeler. who doesn't own a vegetable peeler?
• multiple parts/same pot - 4 - more carrots, more potatoes, less chicken. maybe that would help with the flavor thing, too.
• cooks for 6-8 hours - 5 - i'm tellin you, these are fantastic for school days!
• crockpot to table ease - 5 - into a bowl or onto a plate, and you're good to go.
• freezer leftovers - 5 - it's in the freezer. and it was easy. and i see it being quite easy on the way back out, too.

this reconfirms my previous thought about adding a "yummy" category because this one got a 24/25 and that did not account at all for the major lack of flavor. that part will be in a future update, once i work through all the leftovers in the freezer. check back, but at this present moment, this is not what's for dinner tonight.

♥whit

cardinal nation

today's not about crockpots or crochet hooks or knitting needles - it's about a very happy girl and what made her that way.

this is how i felt when i heard the news

after that horrible day earlier this year when my beloved albert pujols saw fit to move on to other things and leave behind the team and city that have loved him since no one knew who he was, i am so, so relieved to see yadier molina staying around for at least five more years! here's the article that made my heart swell up real big like the grinch in the end of that movie - i didn't ruin that for anyone, did i? a great big thanks to yadi, melvin roman, john mozeliak, and everyone else involved for not breaking my heart for a second time this off-season. i must admit, i wasn't always a yadi-lover like i am now. i tended to get quite frustrated with him when he was a younger player, but after he pulled it out for us in the series in '06, he has had my heart, and i could not be happier that i don't have to take it back! (*ahem* albert, this could have been written about you.)

my two favorite parts of the story are quotes from cards gm john mozeliak and from yadi himself:

"I really admire what Yadi was willing to do. You certainly don't know what the free-agent market might have looked like for him. His willingness to really want to be here and stay here really says a lot about his commitment to the organization." - john mozeliak

 "I was still thinking [about] it [being] a business, but my idea was to stay here. My commitment was to stay here with the organization. It's everything. I grew up here [as a player]. I feel good here. It was my first choice to stay here, and I'm glad we got it done." - yadier molina

thanks, #4, for reminding me that loyalty still matters to some people, and thanks, john mozeliak, for appreciating what you have.

i love my team. i love its fans. i love when it all falls into place.

mike matheny, this year is going to rock. you hear me? go cards!

♥ whit

photo of yadi from http://buenojoe.com/2011/06/senor-yad/